


(if you're gonna be the death of me) thats how i wanna go

by willowcat33



Category: Escape the Night (Web Series)
Genre: Alternate Canon, Angst and Feels, Gen, Relationship Study, Winter Gift Exchange 2020, i do be loving sass squad this fine december, manny and nikita love each other so much you guys :(, not much difference honestly but, right?? thats what this is
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-20
Updated: 2020-12-20
Packaged: 2021-03-09 18:01:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,936
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27990435
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/willowcat33/pseuds/willowcat33
Summary: It's always been them. Manny and Nikita, Nikita and Manny - two halves of a whole, even before they stepped through the gates of Everlock.[ alternatively ; when the person you'd take a bullet for has their finger on the trigger ]
Relationships: The Detective | Matthew Patrick/The Record Producer | Manny MUA, The Record Producer | Manny MUA & The Troublemaker | Nikita Dragun, could be read as - Relationship, lets be real its mattny i got carried away writin ep 5 challenge theyre gay theyre so gay
Comments: 10
Kudos: 23





	(if you're gonna be the death of me) thats how i wanna go

**Author's Note:**

  * For [WitchyTwitchy](https://archiveofourown.org/users/WitchyTwitchy/gifts).



> and here's my entry for the winter gift exchange! wooph this was a bit of a challenge but I'm glad I did it anyway!! for my dear WitchyTwitchy, , technically platonic sass squad feels was Not on your form but Rune said itd be okay and I hope you like it anyway :D  
> -  
> cws; mentions of death, canon compliant violence up to and inc. ep 9, vague allusions to suicide because again ep 9, swearing

It’s always been them. Manny and Nikita, Nikita and Manny- since the moment they stepped through the gates of Everlock. Two halves of a whole, almost; you never saw one without the other after things went to shit. That was Nikita’s knee jerk reaction, when that cursed jack-in-a-box opened; reach for Manny’s hand, grab him and run.

But even before it all went pear-shaped, they were having fun. Wandering aimlessly around the carnival town, walking so close together that their hips and shoulders knocked together. Subtly, they point out cute guys to each other, just to hear the other laugh and watch them flush. Maybe, if things had been different, Everlock would’ve been nice. A place to make bets about who could get someone’s number by the end of the night, a place to play carnival games with their friends. But that’s not the case- instead they’re running from whatever the hell each hour throws at them, solving puzzles and running, so much running, over and over.

They’re very good at not getting caught. A troublemaker and a record producer- and in another life, maybe that’s how they would’ve spent their days. Running around Everlock, knowing it like the back of their palm (in both the sunlight and the moonlight), and causing as much mayhem as their hearts desired.

But not now. Instead, they’re stuck here- a pleasant carnival town turned into a Saw-like game of death. The comparison makes Manny just remember warm, comfy nights back in the modern-day. Curled up on the couch together, laughing at dim-witted protagonists and scrunching up his nose at their deaths and tasteless gore.

He does more than simply scrunch up his nose when Jc dies. It’s at that moment, when four go into the challenge and three return, that the reality of the situation hits him. Nausea rocks through him, and he leans into Nikita’s side. The Troublemaker wraps her arm around his waist; and in that moment, a silent promise is made. No matter what, they protect each other. They’re a team- practically attached at the hip, and not eager to let anyone take that from them.

-+-

_Luck seems to run out as quickly as it is provided in these parts,_ Manny muses, barely resisting the urge to chew his nails anxiously as Calliope shuffles the cards for their second challenge.

“And the person going into the challenge, with the Daredevil…”

Their helper flips a card and Manny holds his breath, stomach churning.

“...is the Troublemaker.”

_“What?!”_ The word bursts from Nikita like a bullet, cutting through the silence abruptly.

“Who… who voted for you?” Manny wonders aloud, brain scrambling to catch up as he reels with the information. This isn’t right- Nikita’s meant to be unstoppable. The group was supposed to vote in Teala- what happened? Deathly silence of the group is all that answers his questions - those spoken and those not. He does take note, however, of the brief look of distress that crosses Ro’s face. Tension crackles through the air around the group for what feels like an eternity but could be just a handful of seconds; Calliope simply puts the cards away, either oblivious or not caring for the tension.

Noone seems willing to admit to voting for Nikita - and as angry about it as Manny is, he can understand. That checks out; no one wants to put a target on their back tonight. Soon enough, Roi speaks up and breaks the tender, uneasy silence.

“I guess it's me and you then, huh Nikita?” The daredevil grins, but it doesn’t quite reach his eyes.

“I guess so.” Nikita returns. There is a new sharpness to the troublemaker’s voice - something wary, yet determined.

“It is time for the challenge to commence. We must get on with it - there are only so many hours before dawn, after all.” Calliope insists gently. She’s moved from her space behind the desk to stand by the arcade exit door.

Roi stands up, with a resigned sigh and a half-smile. Nikita goes to follow, eyes hard and sharp as flint, but before she gets far Manny stops her. He catches her wrist, tugging her into a hug. The record producer is not letting her go without at least wishing her luck - who cares if the other members of their group stare? Certainly not him, and by the way she melts into his arms after a second, he reckons she doesn’t mind either.

“I hope you’re not trying to say goodbye,” Nikita murmurs, face tucked in close to his chest as she commits the thump of his heartbeat to memory once more.

Manny huffs. “Of course not. Kick ass, babe. I’ll… I’ll see you soon.”

“You know I will.” Nikita smirks, although there’s a softness in her eyes as she pulls back.

With a smile that’s more for her sake than it is truly happy, Manny releases her. A glint in her eyes, the click of her boots against the floor of the divine lounge - and then she’s gone.

Manny sits down heavily on the couch and prays silently that she’ll make good on her promises.

-+-

He doesn’t get that kind of moment with her before his first challenge. It’s alright, though; Mat’s presence as the two of them prepare is comforting enough (though it's not nearly the same). Manny likes the detective quite a lot; if it's him, who wins this challenge, Manny hopes Nikita won’t be too mad at Mat. Guilty as he feels for it, though, confidence thrums quietly in his chest. Manny really, really doesn’t want to die- he’s proved himself as the strongest in the group before, he just hopes he can do it again.

Of course, that means condemning Mat to a brutal death at the hands of the Strongman. The thought of that makes Manny shudder, guilt twisting his stomach into knots.

“Good luck,” He blurts out to the detective, as they're about to leave.

Mat pauses, affection in his warm brown eyes even as he quirks an eyebrow in confusion. “Thank you? You… you too.”

-+-

The challenge is hellish. That’s the only way of putting it. By the time they’re at the tiebreaker, Manny’s muscles ache, he’s sweating in places there shouldn’t be sweat, and his lungs hurt something fierce. But he can hear Nikita cheering for him (and slamming on Veronica as intensely as she can manage), and his heart swells with love for his girl and a renewed vigor. Mat fights him so, so hard in the arm wrestle. The record producer forces himself to keep going and tune out Mat’s desperate shouts of protest, tune out the heckles of the Strongman and Veronica. All he hears is his own heart pounding and Nikita yelling-

_“Cmon, Manny! You’re nearly there! Yes, bitch, lets go!”_

The wood of the table cracks, splintering slightly from the force of the impact as Manny finally slams down Mat’s fist. The rush of victory - Nikita’s triumphant shriek invigorating him - hits him like a truck as he releases the detective’s hand.

But the feeling sours quickly; he catches Mat’s eye, the detective’s brown eyes filled with disbelief and terror.

“I’m sorry-” tumbles out of his mouth before he can think. Shame and fear and urgency bring haste to the record producer. Manny turns around so he doesn’t have to hear Mat’s response, hating himself for the cowardice of the action.

_The artefact,_ Manny says to himself firmly, blocking out the Strongman’s jeering, _focus on the artefact_.

He hurries to the glass case- it falls open at his touch and he grabs the leather band. Manny turns, catching Nikita’s eye, and she’s so proud of him. She hasn’t said a word yet but oh, he knows, and it eases the guilt in his stomach. Her brown eyes sparkle with victory- and even more than that, relief. Before he realises it, he’s stumbling in her direction, feet carrying him home, home, home to her.

Calliope is ushering everyone inside when Manny reconvenes with the group. Still struggling to catch his breath, he opens his mouth to say something, anything, he doesn’t know what-

But then there’s a sickening _crunch_ , one of blood and bone and flesh caving him. Two screams follow it - one of a broken and guttural nature, pure agony, and one Ro’s plaintive anguish. It steals the words from him - head reeling, Manny hurries inside the arcade. He knows Calliope has Ro, but that doesn’t mean he doesn’t still feel awful. Nikita presses close behind as they walk. The Troublemaker clearly doesn’t want to let him out of her sight- not after coming so close to losing him.

Manny cleanses the artefact with trembling fingers, and whilst he’s glad he’s alive, survival doesn’t ease the churning in his stomach. As futile as it is he wishes he could’ve been faster; could’ve prevented whatever had happened to the detective whilst he was too busy trying to gather his thoughts. Nikita takes his hand in her own, squeezing, and the silent comfort in that moment means so much more than he can say.

(And when Mat returns to them, Manny holds him tight, and everythings okay again. He doesn’t fail to notice how Nikita only relaxes when it's obvious the detective holds no animosity towards Manny for his death. Manny doesn’t know what he’d have done if Mat was mad- but at least Manny knows that Nikita has him. No matter what, they have each other's backs.)

-+-

Fate seems to enjoy making Manny and his girl suffer, though. A jolt of dread shocks through Manny when it’s Nikita and himself selected for the funhouse. He feels sick to his stomach - what in the hell were Safiya and Ro thinking?

Still, he fights like hell. It’s all he can do, isn’t it? Even against Nikita. His best friend, the only thing keeping Manny grounded in this hellhole of a town. She takes the lead quickly in the challenge - of course she does, Nikita has proven herself to be lethal over and over in challenges. Manny knows how she works; even when it's against him, she’ll be going into tunnel vision until she’s won. But he’s not helpless - in fact, Manny’s hot on her heels. He catches up to her in the second room, but he's only a few bean bags into the toss when she’s hurrying out of the room at the sound of Willie’s voice on the intercom. Her boots click against the fake rocks of the lava room, and a sad smile curls across Manny’s face.

It’s barely a minute before he hears Willy’s voice come over the fizzy intercom again, congratulating her; and then it’s drowned out by her mournful wail of-

_“Manny, I’m sorry!”_

And, oh, he knows. Manny knows she never means to hurt anyone, least of all him. But he also knows that Nikita doesn’t lose. Victory walks hand in hand with her in the same way death clutches to Everlock. _Soon enough it’ll be clutching to me, too, h_ e muses, as he leans against the wall with a smile of resignation.

He opens his eyes again when Nikita comes clattering into the room, eyes wild and grief-filled as she slams into him with a hug.

“Hey, girl…” He mumbles, wrapping his arms around her. She says nothing, just buries her head in his chest and holds him.

“Cmon, Kita… we should get going, huh? You’ll be alright,” Manny’s voice is quiet- repressing his own mounting fear at death to soothe his girl. Because he loves her, he’s loved her since the goddamn day he met her, and he won’t let their last moments together be broken and distressed.

“But you won’t, and that's the problem, Manny.” She mutters, reluctantly pulling back, but clutching his hand like a lifeline. All he can do is hum in sad sympathy, and the two walk to the elevator with unspoken emotions whirling between them. As the contraption spins they hold each other, both searching for comfort and memories to hang onto.

Willie isn’t standing directly outside of the funhouse- but that doesn’t stop Nikita clutching Manny’s hand tighter, a protective fury burning in dark eyes.

“Don’t get yourself in trouble for me, Nikita.” He says. His voice is but a murmur, but it's fine, and she huffs, neither agreeing or refusing.

And then they find out that they both live ; and then Saf’s bled out onto the carpet of the lounger ; and then it all goes to shit. But, even as the two people dearest to him in the group have a screaming match over a corpse, all that Manny can think is he’s glad they’re both alive.

-+-

_Not even two hours later. Not even two, and I'm fighting for my life against her again. Marvelous._

Manny is angry in his third challenge, shoving crates to the side and ripping through hay. Mind you, that anger is not towards Nikita. Never- he loves her far too much, and she’s been just as much fucked over as he has. None of this is her fault. Voting for themselves seemed so brilliant at the time- leaving it down to the cards was honourable, right?

Turns out those tarot cards are sadistic bastards. Manny didn’t know you could be so hateful towards a set of inanimate objects, but here he is. If he gets out of here,he wants to burn those cards, or tear them into itty bitty pieces. But therein lies the problem; getting out of here.

Because if he survives this challenge, Nikita doesn't. The price of his survival is losing the one person he loves the most in this hell town. And after everything they've been through together in Everlock, everything they've faced head on and survived because they were together… part of him wants to give up at the thought of losing her.

But the rest of him knows he can't. When his fingers scrabble through the straw and hit the cold metal of a tiny key, he's filled with equal parts delight and dread. Unlocking the boxes is hard - not as hard as it is for Nikita, with her acrylic claws she calls nails giving her about as much pinch room as a pair of Operation tweezers - but he fumbles his third box open. Nothing but hay and frustration in the little metal case and it makes him want to scream.

He glances over at Nikita and she's cursing under her breath as she fiddles a box open. Manny moves to go back to searching but freezes dead in his steps as her box clicks open and something catches his eye. He sees a pink blob, and a note, and he can't tell what the pink is from this distance but his stomach drops.

Her eyes widen as she reads the note aloud, and Manny knows immediately that whatever it is isn't good. It takes a lot to startle Nikita and she looks thoroughly shaken up so _what did she find-_

_"Kill yourself, or kill your friend. You decide how this ends."_

Manny can't breathe. All of a sudden his ears are ringing and the breath has been stolen from his lungs because either he dies here or he watches her blow out her own brains.

Brown eyes dart up to catch green, the troublemaker's eyes filled with uncertainty and fear. Something in the back of his mind grimaces and he immediately hates the sight; Nikita, scared, is not something he likes to see. Irrational as it is all he wants in this moment is to run to her and hold her till it's all better but that won't solve anything right now and he knows it.

All he can do is stand stock still like a deer caught in headlights as Nikita picks up the gun. Numbly, he notices that it matches the colour of her dress.

"Manny…"

"You're not gonna shoot me." His words are trembling, and it comes out more like a question than anything else. And it's a question he already knows the answer to. Everything in his body screams for him to run but he can't. He can't run from her, or from any of this. All he can do is accept his fate as best he can, even as bitter tears make emerald eyes shine with sadness.

"Manny- Manny I'm sorry, Manny I _love_ you-" She's raising the gun, her own face screwed up and her hands trembling in a way that's so unlike his Nikita. Her confidence and determination is gone in the face of this near impossible decision and it makes his heart crack a little more.

Manny squeezes his eyes tightly shut, committing her face to memory as tears roll down his cheeks. A smile, unbelievably sad and yet, _yet_ , just as fond as always, spreads across his face. When he speaks, his voice is hoarse with tears and the barely restrained panic of a man about to die, but his words have never been truer. Will never be truer.

"Oh darling… I know."

Six gunshots. Six bursts of pain blooming like flowers across his chest. The air is ripped from his lungs in a gasp as he topples forward. The record producer bleeds out in seconds, broken heart faltering to a stop- but even as shadows gather at the edge of his vision, Manny dies knowing two truths.

One, Nikita doesn't lose. Two, he loves her nonetheless. There's no time to feel betrayed before his breath peters out and his eyes fall forever shut.

It was always them. Manny and Nikita; Nikita and Manny. Right to the very end of it all. 


End file.
